“In a kaleidoscope, a set of fragments forms a pattern, but it isn't locked into place.... Shake it, twist it, change [the] angle, change perspective, and the exact same fragments form an entirely new pattern. Reality, the kaleidoscope tells us, is only a temporary arrangement. Creativity consists of rearranging the pieces to create a new reality.”

- Rosabeth Moss Kanter on Kaleidoscope Thinking

At Klydo we have an ambitious vision to create
a world of sustainable progress
by
unleashing people’s creative potential to solve problems.

This is our manifesto.

Complexity is drowning us.

Every day billions of human interactions shape our culture, behaviours and values, resulting in a complex and evolving network of people and stories. Throw in the
incomprehensible rate
of technological development and the sheer volume of information flowing at us from every direction and you quickly realise how insanely difficult it is to have a clear understanding of the world.

Identifying and solving problems in this environment requires clarity and context. This is no small feat!

The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function.

- Al Bartlett

Adaptability is the simple secret of survival.

- Jessica Hagedorn

Problems are inevitable.

As change occurs, for better or worse, it unlocks new problems to be solved. We are optimistic that with the right knowledge, all problems can be solved (more on how to acquire such knowledge later).
However, this is not to be confused with the blind optimism that all problems will be solved.

For every solution identified, new problems are created meaning a sustainable, static and problem-free world is unachievable.
Sustainable progress is therefore the only desirable type of sustainability.

We should embark on an open ended journey of creation and exploration whose every step is unsustainable until it is redeemed by the next.

- David Deutsch

Problem solving is misrepresented.

From business ideas to scientific theories, the importance of creative thought is widely proclaimed but in practice
rarely acknowledged.
Most ideas are conceived through creativity and imagination, and then validated through logical reasoning; however, when communicating the idea to others, we typically emphasise the latter over the former. This has skewed the role of many of our technologies and processes.

Understanding and overcoming this misrepresentation is a critical first step in enhancing our capacity to solve problems.

In real life discovery and justification are almost always different processes.

- Sir Peter Medawar

Creativity has no limits.

Once we have recognised the distinction between the roles of creative and logical thought in problem solving, we realise two things: creativity is the limiting factor in this process; and
creativity itself has no limits
in its ability to generate ideas and subsequent knowledge. So if only we can crack this creativity thing, then we really can solve any problem.

What we need is a collective push to design technologies and processes that focus on realising this creative potential.

There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns.

- Edward de Bono

Reality is based on perception.

To have any chance of understanding creativity (and how to inspire it) we must first realise that
the way we see the world is not as it really is.
Instead of “reality”, what we see is a function of what we have seen in the past.
Creativity involves challenging these prior assumptions and
asking beautiful questions
to help uncover new perspectives.

Great ideas come from afar.

The chances are that someone else has solved your problem before (although it’s probably in disguise!), so the secret is to frame your question in a way that uncovers this inspiration. The best problem solvers can see past the established ways of thinking and find inspiration in the unlikeliest of places.

So that’s what we
believe
in, now how does that translate into our
values?

VALUE #1

Celebrate uncertainty.

People can’t stand uncertainty: imagine waiting for a train without any indication of when it is likely to arrive. Pretty horrible right? This poses a problem as uncertainty, and more specifically a desire to ask questions, is arguably the most important prerequisite for creativity. Fortunately evolution has it’s own answer to this conundrum: play (again more on this later).

I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned.

- Richard Feynman

Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position. But certainty is an absurd one.

- David Eagleman

VALUE #2

Create together.

The other critical prerequisite for creativity is collaboration - the more diverse our collective views and assumptions, the greater our power to solve problems. Diversity both reveals your own assumptions/biases (you need to know them to change them!) and creates a more complex and varied
“space of possibilities”
in which new ideas can be generated.

So let’s stop the games and politics and start trusting each other.

The secret to your success? Make others successful.

- Tim Brown

VALUE #3

Craft stories.

Stories are the
mysterious glue
that bring people together to cooperate in a way that no other species has ever managed. The consequence of this is that storytelling (the more visual the better) has the power to take an idea and realise its potential to solve a desired problem.

Grab your pen and paper, we all need to become storytellers!

Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world.

- Robert McAfee

You could never convince a monkey to give you a banana by promising him limitless bananas after death in monkey heaven.

- Yuval Noah Harari

VALUE #4

Enjoy the journey.

Play is the one state of mind which we have evolved where uncertainty adds to our experience, not detracts. This is why kids ask so many questions and why we should all play games, make jokes and not take ourselves too seriously. What’s more, play is intrinsically motivating and so is the perfect solution for getting you out of bed on a Monday morning!

Seeing as we can never solve all problems, we may as well have fun along the way.

By unleashing our individual creative potential, we can all be empowered to solve the problems that matter most to us and consequently define our own true sense of purpose.

Creativity gives the possibility of some sort of achievement to everyone.

- Edward de Bono

Let's do this!

We live in exciting times...

As individuals we are capable of curating our lives around the values we believe in and the subsequent problems we want to solve.
As a collective we are capable of solving any problem and each time we do, we are faced with even more compelling problems and opportunities.

And at the heart of all this is creative problem solving. So what could be more rewarding than building technology that aims to enhance this very trait in people?